This invention relates to a grip for a racket, especially a tennis racket, having longitudinally extending components joined together about a shaft of the racket frame to form a hand-grip.
A racket, especially a tennis racket, of this type is known from DE-OS No. 21 06 800. The grip of this known tennis racket consists of a hand-grip preferably formed of two grip halves, that are firmly arranged on the shaft with an insert of a shock- or vibration-damping material placed therebetween. The two grip-halves are screwed together. In this case, the screws penetrate the shaft through boreholes which are larger than the diameter of the screws. So that the screws do not touch the walls of the boreholes, the grip must not slip on the shaft. For this reason, the screws must press the insert tightly against the shaft, the damping material insert has the purpose of avoiding the effect that hard impacts transferred to the arm of the player in an undampened way may have especially to the arm of a tennis player.
The present invention, among other things, has a primary objective of being able to fasten, a grip which has good damping characteristics in a simple manner, firmly on a shaft or so that it can be moved. As a secondary object, it is desired to achieve such in way that may be manufactured in a relatively inexpensive manner and, if possible, no additional fastening means should be required to hold the grip on the shaft either firmly or so that it can be moved.
These objectives are achieved, in accordance with preferred embodiments of the invention, through the use of at least two identical or at least similar shell parts which are formed of a hard, elastic material and which are arranged so as to firmly engage against the hand-grip shaft with their mutually facing longitudinal edge portions in a laterally overlapping relationship creating a gap between their end faces, i.e., there is no end-on abutting, relationship. The hand-grip sleeve so formed is provided with an elastic covering for pressing the grip sleeve onto the shaft of the frame.
By the use of a hard elastic material for the hand-grip shell parts, a fastening of the shell parts may, for example, take place by means of an elastic covering in the form of an elastic tube or an elastic strip that preferably, at the same time, may be a grip strip. Special fastening means, such as screws, are therefore not required. Nevertheless, the grip holds firmly onto the shaft so that it cannot be moved when the elastic covering surrounds the hand-grip sleeve in a correspondingly firm manner, or the grip is attached just so firmly that it can still be adjusted on the shaft. The latter has the advantage that the racket itself may be adjusted according to the strength and/or the skill of the player, because in this manner the "weight", i.e., the location of the center of gravity of the racket can be changed. This invention can, therefore, especially advantageously be used in the case of a racket having an adjusting mechanism for the grip as it is, for example, shown and described in my copending patent application filed on even date herewith and claiming priority based upon German Application No. P 33 24 140.6 of July 5, 1983.
Rackets, particularly tennis rackets, having a hand-grip sleeve which is telescopingly adjustable over the shaft of the racket frame for changing the rocket handle length are known. However, because of the manner of construction of the hand-grip sleeves of such rackets, the sleeve itself cannot achieve both a slidable engagement with the racket shaft and a firm enough contact to prevent inadvertent slippage during use, without the provision of some auxillary fastening means, such as a screw.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,674,267, a tennis racket with an adjustable grip is disclosed wherein a hand-grip sleeve, comprised of a seamless aluminum or plastic tube, is frictionally fit over the shaft of the racket frame, but to secure the hand-grip at a desired longitudinal position, a fastening screw is attached through holes provided in the hand-grip and the shaft of the frame. A similar situation exists for the tennis racket with an adjustable handle that is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,931,968, which has a hand-grip sleeve formed of two half-shells. Since the two half-shells abut, end-on, along their longitudinal edge-walls, a firm clamping of the shaft, by the half-shells, cannot be assured, particularly in view of an internal chamber that is provided within the hand-grip formed by the half-shells. Thus, positional locking of the hand-grip relative to the racket frame shaft is achieved by a spring detent arrangement, and a wing screw may, additionally, be provided to further insure that a secure clamping is achieved.
These and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, several embodiments in accordance with the present invention.